New 35 Whelen :)

Well it's finally here.

Rem 700 SPS action, fully blueprinted
24" Benchmark matte stainless 1 in 12 twist. It's a copy of a Pac Nor # 4 with the shank cut so that the taper starts .250" ahead of the recoil lug.
McMillan Edge (from my 264 WM which is now in the SPS stock)
Leupold M8 6x36
Burris medium Zee rings in Leupold bases
It was a bit hard to weigh on our little kitchen scale but it weighs in somewhere between 7 1/2- 7 3/4 lbs scoped up which was where I was hoping it would end up.

Preliminary loads chronographed tonight using IMR 8208 XBR and CCI 250's, one shot at each powder charge.

200 gr Hornady

55 gr - 2788 fps
56 gr - 2853 fps
57 gr - no reading
58 gr - 2906 fps

200 gr AccuBond

56 gr - 2838 fps
57 gr - 2845 fps
58 gr - 2895 fps

200 gr TTSX

56 gr - forgot to turn the Chrony on
57 gr - 2864 fps
58 gr - 2876 fps

Hodgdon lists 59 gr of IMR 8208 with a Sierra 200 gr bullet and presumably a standard primer of some sort for a speed of 2802 fps. Since I'm using different 200 gr bullets and a magnum primer it appears Like I will hit that speed at betwwen 55 and 56 gr of powder. The loads I shoot next at 100 yards will be in that range, if the the Chrongraph reads 2800-2850 fps with good accuracy I think I will be done. Any thoughts on this plan of attack? Hopefully I can make it out on Friday and Saturday for some more shooting.

My Photobucket account is up again, here are a couple of quick pics.

Gerry,

Congratulations on your 35 Whelen.
A 200 gr bulet at 2900 fps is smokin' fast and will be a hammer.

JD338

Those 200 grain bullets are definitely stepping out. The rifle looks very good, Gerry. Great to see you have it up and running.

gerry, that is a very good looking rifle and the FPS is right where it needs to be.
Once it is broke in it should really start to perform..]

Blessings,
Dan

Sooo jealous....

Hey! Somebody built it wrong! The bolt's on the wrong side!

How does it handle? I would think an Edge with a #4 might be a little nose heavy. Beautiful rig, though!

LOOKing GOOD Guy ! 2900 fps with 200 gr slug is getting it done with only 58 grs of powder ! Thats a thumper load ! :grin:
Cheers RJ

Gerry, very nice. I'll watch to see how your loads go if I decide to try the 200's.

Couple of things I really like: the 1:12 twist (should you ever want to shoot HEAVY bullets) and the 6x Leupold...

Neat rifle! It looks like a serious freezer-filler and antler-taker.

Guy

...man, that's nice, but they put the action in upside-down...

Thanks guys I am happy to finally get it here, been thinking about a new 35 Whelen for quite a few years now. I will report range results both good and bad here.

BK, It is a bit nose heavy with the # 4 but I like it that way and it handles great, I really don't like it when a gun is butt heavy. I may get it Cerakoted one day but for now it will stay as is.

Guy, It just made sense to go with the faster twist for just that reason and I wanted the simplicity and toughness that the Leupold 6x36 offers, this will be my main hunting gun for anything from goats to moose and grizzlies.

This will be my main hunting gun for anything from goats to moose and grizzlies.

Click to expand...

And it will work beautifully for that purpose.

Gerry,

If you go heavy, you should not have a problem getting the 250 gr PT over 2600 fps.
FWIW, 2700 fps is 338 Win Mag territority.

JD338

That is REALLY nice Gerry! It looks really well built and perfectly set up. Yeah, 2900 with 200's is no joke buddy. That is really hauling the mail buddy!

Can't wait to see the range reports.

gerry, don't worry about those gentlemen making remarks about the bolt remember they are just nervous as it finally starting to turn and they are making same quality for lefties as well.
It may take some time but we will take over one 35 Whelen at a time :mrgreen:

Blessings,
Dan

It's pretty amazing how popular the 35 Whelen is here at Nosler reloading. As for bullets, this year it will be the 200 gr AccuBond and 200 gr TTSX but once those loads are done it will be interesting to see how the 225 gr Partition and AccuBond do with some Varget behind them, most likely one of those 225's will be my main load in this gun. If I didn't have a 375 Ruger I might play a bit more with the 250's, actually the 275 gr Woodleigh PP and 310 gr RN are really interesting, need to try them some day.
Pac Nor's barrel calculator seems to be bang on, it showed that a # 3 264 barrel was actually heavier than a # 4 35 cal barrel. Since this barrel was cut even shorter in the shank than my 264 WM was it is noticeably lighter than it was before, the balance seems perfect. The 264 WM feels pretty good in the heavier SPS stock, just in case someone missed it earlier this barrel is a Benchmark but a copy of a # 4 Pac Nor. I was going to put my Talley light weight rings on but the store here has been out of extra screws for months now so I went with the Burris instead, each type has it's avantages and in the end I don't mind the extra weight plus there are no hidden screws to come loose (or break like happened to me before) like in the Talley's. After hunting with my old Whelen set on 7 power for several years I knew a 6 power scope would be easy to use even at close range. Little long winded but wanted to get out some random thoughts here.

gerry":2shjqh3o said:

I was going to put my Talley light weight rings on but the store here has been out of extra screws for months now

Click to expand...

Fire off an e-mail to Talley... I bet they will make things right. They did when I was missing a screw. (And no, I'm not talking about me having a screw loose!)

"It may take some time but we will take over one 35 Whelen at a time."

Amen brother. :wink: :grin:
Paul B.

That rig looks like it "just means business"! A very clean and powerful set up. Congrats.
Greg